Wenham Select Board Votes Unanimously to Send $25,000 to Local Food Pantry

WENHAM — November 4, 2025 — Wenham Select Board votes unanimously to send up to $25,000 in reserve funds to Accord Food Pantry amid federal SNAP benefit disruption. The 5-0 vote, pending Finance Committee approval, was prompted by testimony from Accord Executive Director Stacey Verge, who reported 178 Wenham resident visits to the pantry in September 2025 — up from 38 in September 2020 — and noted that approximately 184 Wenham residents, about 3.4 percent of the town's population, receive SNAP benefits now partially withheld under a federal court standoff. Chair Ben Tymon calculated the $25,000 figure as approximating 160 recipients times a $150 average monthly shortfall, calling the motion "one piece in the puzzle." State Representatives Sally Kerans and Hannah Bowen attended the meeting and described the federal disruption as a $2.7 billion hole in Massachusetts food programming. In other business, the board unanimously authorized a working group with a May 15, 2026 deadline to develop a redevelopment proposal for the Iron Rail site and accepted a $425,000 state conservation land grant — the maximum available — for the purchase of 9 Maple Street in partnership with Greenbelt.